V
Dylan was surprised to find that, after his outburst, he found himself under the same mural as before.
Only now, his perception had changed. Instead of seeing a side-less war, he now saw each individual being at war with its antithesis. Each fight was its own representation of yin and yang.
Ice-breathing dragons battled fire-wielding phoenix's, while large golems made of stone fought mechs powered by lightning.
He began to find a beauty in the chaos.
He yearned to defeat his own antithesis, he knew that would be how to become truly powerful. No one had told him that he just felt it, deep inside.
"Well, you're the first person to get lost in the mural after the fact," Melvina's voice broke him from his daze.
"You know, I've gave countless trials to countless Gears, and no one ever consumed the flames of want either."
Yes, now that she got a closer look, Melvina could see that Dylan's soulflame, was made of the same fire as the one from her trial.
"Quite frankly, I'm not sure how to continue."
"Originally there were two options."
"One, you fail the trial, and I would send you on your way."
"Two, you would somehow pass the trial, and I would then reward you with my blessing."
"Unfortunately, you've somehow managed to fill the criteria for both options. Technically consuming the flames of want, does not mean the same thing as overcoming them. Most Gears would receive an immense amount of soul-tempering, in exchange for fueling the fire with their bodies."
"This represents giving your life for your goals, signifying you determination and Will."
Dylan looked down as there was a break in her speech.
'Would I be willing to give my life for my goals?' he thought.
"Nevertheless, you managed to manifest a Will," she continued. "You even managed to temper your soul to unprecedented levels by fusing your soulflame with the trials fire."
"The first thing, is an accomplishment any Gear could gain pride from. A Will is the difference between Gears that are just canon fodder, and Gears that are potential Gods."
"I'm not sure if anyone has told you but every God aside from the OriginGods was originally a Gear. Gears have the potential to become Gods, but it is very rare and just making it through a PrimalGate isn't enough.
"In order to become a God, you either must become the overall most powerful user of a certain thing or category, or you can create an entirely new concept."
"Both of these things are nearly impossible, considering the quintillions of other souls you're competing with, Gears or otherwise."
The word 'otherwise' rang a bell inside Dylan's mind.
'Are Gears the only ones with this power? Is there other ways to reach Godhood?'
After considering this, continued to listen to Melvina's explanation.
"Your second accomplishment is solely unique to you."
"In fact, this already puts you leagues ahead anyone your level or a few above. Once you enter the Gate, the world you are born into will already have their own power system."
"As a Gear, you have the innate ability to systematically grow outside of the norms in a Gate's world. This system will aid you, by keeping track of your power and arranging it into values."
"That will all make more since once you enter the Gate." she said with a wave of her hand.
"The system will also grant you skills as you grow in level. Some blessings give you a skill that is outside of the systems level requirements. Meaning, you could theoretically, have an overpowered skill for your level based on your blessing."
"Now that you have re-enforced your soulflame with the flames of want you have an additional ability outside of the system."
"A normal tempered soulflame will allow the Gear to receive growth in the form of experience. This experience is represented with points by the system."
"The system uses the amount of experience and amount of power you have, to give you a numerical level. The flames of want have the ability to essentially, break the hard cap the system puts on these levels."
"That ability comes from the flames of want being the most basic form of avarice. It simply wants to devour anything lacking a Will"
"And, now that you have fused your soul with the flames, you essentially have no power-ceiling. Meaning you have an actual chance at becoming a God."
Dylan was shocked. Firstly the info-dump was a little overwhelming, but most importantly if he understood this right.
He could become a God!
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Melvina remarked in a playful tone. "We still have to discuss your blessing."
-
Dylan stood before a large black and white portal. He donned his plain black clothes with a look of determination.
His talk with Melvina finally answered some of his questions.
She was the God of Valor.
At first that didn't make any sense. Her image and a lot of the themes from the trial led him to believe she was one of the dark emotional Gods. Like fear, or hate.
After questioning her she managed to clear some of his doubts.
"Valor is much more than just courage my child.' she said.
'Valor is pride."
"Valor is overcoming fear."
"Valor is love."
"Valor encompasses the entire emotional spectrum. It is essentially a step above bravery or courage. Valor can come from any place in ones heart, but in the end it all comes down to the same thing."
"Winning."
Dylan thought over what he was told.
'Valor is winning.'
'It doesn't matter how I win or how I achieve victory. Stolen Valor, is still Valor.'
Once Melvina revealed her title she told him that he would acquire her blessing.
Originally she was upset with how this nobody made a mockery of her trial, but she thought back to the meeting with the third-party.
'They made it very clear that there was more to Dylan than meets the eye.'
'I should trust their judgement.' she decided.
And with that, Dylan received the majestic-blessing of Valor!
He was told that the system would be able to explain more, once he unlocked his blessings' power at ten years old.
Now all that was left, was to enter into the PrimalGate and start his new life. Homer had met up with him and explained some of the guidelines he would need to follow.
Dylan had to sign a couple contracts in order to veto the first two Gates. While he was indeed allowed to skip them, GodGate still needed documentation, incase he never managed to ascend.
The whole thing was a business after all. Gears would gain many recourses and knowledge that they wouldn't be able to take with them when the reincarnated.
One of three things happened with these recourses.
The Gear would either give them to the God they want a blessing from, or sell them directly to GodGate for benefits in their next life.
The knowledge would be accumulated and put into an index accessible by the system. That why the system was able to make on-the-fly adjustments. It was essentially a super AI that had access to information from countless worlds and lifetimes.
The third option was to choose a successor. The successor would receive the recourses and knowledge in the form of trials or gifts.
It was up to the Gear to decide whether or not to test the successor or just give them the treasure.
A lot of Gears would be connected to sects or groups of some kind. These Gears would give the recourses to the group as a whole in the form of a succession. Some of these successions could be accessed by unaffiliated parties, if they manage to gain entry and pass the trials.
Dylan was asked to sign a few soul-binding contracts. Most of which stated that if he died and was put back in to regular reincarnation, and he would forego his rights to anything he gained in his life in the PrimalGate.
Some of them stated, that if he could not find a use for his blessing or any succession he received, that he would not hold the corresponding God or Gear responsible.
It all felt like over-kill but he managed to get through it without withering away from boredom. He was willing to sign anything at this point.
He could become a God!
He knew that if he accomplished that, he wouldn't have to put up with people pushing him around anymore. He had a completely new goal that over-shadowed anything else.
Right now his eyes only peered towards a mountain of power, and he was going to reach its peak!
After Homer gave him the go-ahead, he began to approach the Gate.
Particles of black and white energy swirled violently inside of a glass doorway. The doorway had no walls surrounding it, so it wasn't for privacy.
It stood in the middle of a platform and was connected to thick wires that ran up the walls made of the glass-like stone.
The air pressure changed rapidly from the fluctuating portal.
As Dylan approached he could feel a force pulling him into the Gate. It was almost like he was at a decline, and gravity was pulling him forward.
His eyes narrowed as a familiar feeling resonated deep in his chest.
Just like when he absorbed the flames of want, he could feel a connection to his soul and the energy the PrimalGate gave off.
It was almost like it was made of the same thing. If one looked into his soulflame they would see two energies swirling, making up the core of his soul. One black and one grey.
As the grey energy swirled around the black, it started to bleed into it.
The color was leaving the grey energy, making the black darker and the grey grow lighter. As the colored energy began to synchronize, Dylan was crossing the threshold of the Gate.
Almost as if on que, the energies completely separated and spun around each other, resembling yin and yang.
A white light enveloped his senses and Dylan felt his body break down into small particles. It didn't hurt exactly, the feeling was just foreign to him.
After what felt like hours, his soul began to reform. It started from his soulflame , and then his physical being began to form.
Around the black and white core, the silhouette of an infant began to take shape. After compressing his soul down into the overall shape, the details started to form.
Arms and legs sprouted from a small torso, as eyes and other facial features grew. After the shape was made, color started to fill the soul.
The skin only darkened a few shades, and would still be considered pale by normal standards. Short fuzzy hair, adopted a pitch-black tone and was a stark contrast to the ghost white skin.
After the organs and appendages finished developing, the small infants eyes opened.
A strong determination, accompanied by waves of purple swirled around a deep black pupil.
As the child came into view, Dylan's consciousness also returned. He couldn't move any part of is body. He stared into an abyss with his indigo eyes, one thought replayed in his mind over and over again.
'I will become a God!'
-
A large barn rested in a wide empty field.
The ground looked as if it had been over worked, and abused to produce more crop. Even in the current cold weather, the ground looked far to cut and mound.
Many cries of children could be heard resounding from the barn. A sign in a unfamiliar language was located a few meters to the side of a dirt path, leading from the barn.
Sounds young children being looked after, gave a good idea of what this place could be.
Upon looking inside, dozens of children ranging from newborns to adolescents, littered the interior of the barn.
Half a dozen women ran frantically from one side to the other, catering to each child. Every member of this orphanage was in need of something at any given moment, so the workload was tremendous.
The only non-overworked adult was a man that was seen, drinking a large mug while playing a solitaire-like card game.
"Shut those fucking kids up!" he bellowed. "You whores shouldn't have any trouble keeping them quiet. You're literally made for it."
"HAHAHAHAHAH!"
The women all shared the same exhausted look as they hurriedly tried to ease the poor children's discomfort.
One newborn was unnaturally quiet however.
It was a young, pale skinned boy with jet-black hair. He arrived only the day before, completely malnourished. The women tried their best to nurse him back to health, but the poor child just did the same thing.
Stare intently at something intangible in the distance.
With his majestic purple eyes.